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Topic: Garmin Zummo 350 vs TomTom Rider V5 (Read 14043 times)

I am planning this years Euro-trip, and as I bough everything I needed for last years trip, I am planning to treat myself to a bike specific sat-nav.

I have done the whole car nav in waterproof holder and smart phone via bluetooth headset thing. It is a pain in the arse. The sun makes the screen hard to see. The touch screen does not work with gloves. The routes are not "biker friendly". They are not really waterproof as condensation covers the inside of the screen every morning. I am on holiday and am NOT INTERESTED IN DOING THAT ANY MORE.

I am interested in the opinions of you guys who own one, other or have had both at some point. Good points and bad points.

I have read a bunch or reviews and it seems that they both have pro's and cons. Really, I would like to have one for a week and then the other so I can try em out. But that is not how it works. So I am hoping some of you knowledgeable foccers are willing to share your wisdom.

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Im Garmin bias but I look at Tomtoms as fisher price and Garmin as Makita.One is a toy, one is tool.

Garmins have mapsource/basecamp to plan your routes on the PC, don't think tomtom has that feature.Tomtom has the bendy road feature, Garmin doesn't.Tomtom mounts are famously bad, heard lots of stories of it flying down the road but that was a few years ago, maybe the issue has been resolved.Neither have a stereo built in, I like music on long trips.Tomtom is bulkier than the garmin.Garmin is faster at calculating routes and the screen is more glove friendly.

I had thought of putting something like "I'm not bothered about the price", but then I though that would make me look like a twat. Well, I've done it now, and I'm not. Up to £500 is fine. Over that and the other half will bury me in that hole she has been digging round the back of the garage for the last 2 summers.

After some more reading last night, I see Garmin have the all new 390LM which has some more features such as twisty roads and connect to phone AND headset. It also has a tyre pressure monitor system (extra £75 for 2 sensors).

I think we might have a winner...

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I prefer the look of the Garmin. It does look tough. Tomtom use Tyre instead of basecamp. It is comparable and capable. The new 390LM has twisty roads, so that solves that. And RAM now make the Tomtom mount. The Premium pack comes with a lockable mount too (for an extra £90 ).

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I have the 350 lm and so far so good so have lost the power a couple times but tap the cradle and it comes back ,think it might the angle I have it at ,I also have a Sena smh5 headset which means I can hear both the gps and the my phone calls and music

The Zumo will only pair with a headset not a phone .So you pair the phone to headset and the headset to GPS which means you can hear both and the GPS fades the music when it talksphone calls take priority over everything

Screen is really good better if you tilt and shade under the screen .the only issue is when the bright sun is directly behind you it washes out then but you tend to change direction and it comes back

I'm Tomtom Rider 2 all the way. My mate's Garmin regularly re-boots itself on the road. I look at Tomtoms as Yamaha and Garmin as BMW.One is good value reliable machinery, the other is overpriced, overated and temperamental To answer some of the misunderstandings:

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Garmins have mapsource/basecamp to plan your routes on the PC, don't think tomtom has that feature.

You just use the free verion of Tyre - no problem

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Tomtom mounts are famously bad, heard lots of stories of it flying down the road but that was a few years ago, maybe the issue has been resolved.

Never. Solid as a rock. Jiggling about, the Rider 1 used to wear down the mounting contacts, but improved from Rider 2 onwards.

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Neither have a stereo built in, I like music on long trips.

With a decent Bluetooth receiver you can overlay both, streaming music from a smart phone etc.

Love the Kwak bigralphie. LOVE IT. Anyway, I would fit the sat nav above the dash behind the screen, so it will be shaded for the most part. I just wanted to check as some reviews mentioned screen fade and some did not. I do prefer the look of the Garmin. It looks more like an item you would tour the globe with. What about this issue of the signal dropping out?

I have a TomTom car nav and the reception is fantastic. It has NEVER let me down. And I have been some random places with it. However, I am not convinced with the look of the bike nav and also don't love the idea it is around £100 more for a comparable package. Is it worth it? And where is that extra dosh going...

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No they are not worth the asking price really ,it was just I tired of using a phone in a WP box Thing is my sense of direction is lousy always has been ,so I do use a sat nav a lot so thought I would buy one 1, can be used in both the car and bike2 has lifetime maps 3 I trusted, as I toured with a garmin SPIII for 8 years in oo's and while it was really slow it do stop me being really lost loads of times

I am thinking of moving it to the headstock you can get a ram mount that screws in ,I just to check I can see it with the tank bag on first.

Reception is remarkable so far even indoors ,but I have only done a 4 day Scotland tour so far with it plus the odd day out and about

if I did my install again I would splice a connector into the feed wire to the cradle so you can remove the whole thing off the bike if you wantedNot a issue the cradle staying on the bike but it gives you the option ...I spent so long feeding the wire through the fairing neatly I cant be arsed to change it now :-)

I plan to mount it above the clocks, behind/under the screen. I don't want to remove any of it to be honest. I park my bike in a "safe" location and rarely leave it unattended for long.

I have just opened the ram mount stuff and noticed that the metal parts are scored right through the paint to the metal surface underneath. I think for a £330+ product it should not be like that. The box was slightly damaged too, but I had put that down to a careless courier. Now I am thinking it may have been a return? Just about to email the retailer now.

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I bought it from Thurgo, authorized dealer indeed. I emailed Thurgo and they gave me Garmin's number and told me to deal with them directly. I don't think that is the correct procedure, but I will email Garmin tomorrow with my serial number and receipt and let y'all know how I get on.

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The thing that is pissing me off is that I can't fit it to my bike. So I currently have an expensive ornament that my cat seems to like lying on. Makes a change from the sky remote or my mobile I suppose

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Not quite sure what to do with my early mid-life crisis. Ideas on a post card to P.O.BOX 150...

I don't get the point of buying a separate GPS as surely everyone has a smart phone of some description. I use my Galaxy S3 with a £10 mount above the clocks and a homemade 12v USB power supply. Using coPilot software at £20 the whole lot cost me about £35 quid. £330 brings tears to my eyes!

Smartphones are smart, agreed. I got a new one for my euro-tour last year and here is my first hand experience...

Phones are not very good at being sat-nav's. If you are serious about touring and head "out of town" the signal will drop out when you really need it as it works on a phone signal. Been there done that and its pish.

Your £10 cover will fall to bits and it not really waterproof. And you will get condensation in it when it rains. And it looks crap. Take plenty of duct tape and zip ties to keep it together. Araldite too.

You will spend half your holiday taking your gloves off to re-set the device, then put them back on only to repeat the process 7 miles down the road. Three days of this results in monkey punching the tank in rage.

The on-line community is great with Garmin and the software allows you to plan your trip in as fine detail as you like. You can check out recommended routes and make the most of every ride and ensure you don't miss any gems.

Final point, and this one is personal... The thought of spending money makes me happy on the inside. I foccin love it!!!

Horses for courses, but 0's on a screen don't make me happy.

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Not quite sure what to do with my early mid-life crisis. Ideas on a post card to P.O.BOX 150...

Agreed, it's all personal...more importantly I hate spending money, my wife does enough of that!! A few points though, not to start an argument of course.

- The phone app has the maps stored so all you need is the GPS signal- The case only comes out when it rains, other times it works fine with my gloves on because I've done this http://j.mp/1kQ0KR0- The case is above the clocks and behind my double bubble screen, doesn't even get wet in the rain